An endoscope is a piece of surgical equipment that has imaging capabilities so as to be able to provide images of an internal body cavity of a patient. Most minimally invasive surgical procedures performed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract or other internal body cavities are accomplished with the aid of an endoscope. An endoscope includes one or more working channels through which other medical catheters/instruments can pass. Typically, an endoscope is used to reach an area of interest within a body cavity and, thereafter, another instrument such as a surgical catheter is extended through the working channel of the endoscope to perform some desired procedure. An endoscope, however, typically has a diameter that is relatively large with respect to the body cavity or body lumen through which it must pass.
A need exists for smaller-diameter devices with imaging capability. Preferably, such smaller-diameter devices are steerable so that a physician can readily obtain an image of a location of interest within the body cavity.